Trying to take advantage of the transition period: 88 Democratic members of Congress are calling on President Joe Biden to sanction Israeli Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
The letter was signed by 17 Democratic senators and 71 members of the House of Representatives – and was sent at the end of October, before the US election which Donald Trump won. It was made public on Thursday to pressure the President to take advantage of the time between the election and the inauguration of his successor to take serious steps against the two Israeli officials.
The lawmakers claim in their letter to the President that the two hold "critical roles in driving policies that promote settler violence, weaken the Palestinian Authority, facilitate de facto and de jure annexation, and destabilize the West Bank."
They also called for sanctions against several right-wing organizations in Israel claiming that they encourage "settler violence."
The letter claims that "violent settlers" fueled by the officials' "inflammatory rhetoric and incitement" and supported by the organizations carried out "over 1,270 recorded attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, averaging more than three violent attacks per day.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), one of the lead legislators who signed the letter, was quoted by CNN saying: "We see President-elect Trump’s nominations, and we think it’s more important than ever that President Biden right now states that the United States is not going to be a rubber stamp to the Netanyahu government’s extreme actions on the West Bank."